New York State Appalachian Regional Commission Area Development Program APPLICATION GUIDANCE Including NYS’s Implementing Strategies For Projects Solicited for FFY-2021 I. INTRODUCTION This document provides guidance to Local Development Districts (LDDs) and to project sponsors of proposed projects for which funding is requested under the Area Development Program of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) for Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2021. This guidance also provides general information on program priorities, technical assistance contacts, and the application process and schedule for FFY-2021. Appalachian Regional Development Organization and Authority The ARC was established by the federal Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965 to improve the economy and quality of life in the thirteen-state Appalachian Region. Governors of the Appalachian States and a Federal Co-Chair appointed by the President, comprise the Commission. The NYS Department of State (DOS) is the official agent of the State of New York for cooperating with the ARC in administering the Appalachian Regional Development Program, as specified in Article 6-B, Section 153 of NYS Executive Law. Deputy Secretary of State for Local Government Services Mark P. Pattison serves as the Governor’s Alternate for NYS’s Appalachian Area Development Program. NYS receives an allocation of resources from the ARC each year to fund area development in NYS’s 14- county Appalachian Region. Appalachian New York’s counties are represented by one of three LDDs: Southern Tier West (STW) based in Salamanca, NY and comprised of Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Chautauqua counties; Southern Tier Central (STC) based in Corning, NY and comprised of Chemung, Schuyler and Steuben counties; and Southern Tier East (STE), in Binghamton, NY and comprised of Broome, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Otsego, Schoharie, Tioga and Tompkins counties. Investment of ARC funds is guided by ARC's Strategic Plan 2016-2020 “Investing in Appalachia’s Future”1, which details five General Goals. The first three goals cover broad themes: economic opportunity, workforce development, and infrastructure modernization (including the completion of the Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS), which, in NYS, is funded and administered by other federal and state agencies). The last two goals focus on natural and cultural assets and leadership and community capacity. All proposed Area Development projects in NYS must implement an ARC General Goal and one of the NYS Strategies contained in Section VI of this document. Role of the LDDs The LDDs work with their existing board members and a wide array of local participants to identify and prioritize economic development needs across the district and within local communities. Each LDD’s economic development priorities are articulated in an annual Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). Each LDD serves as a hub for regional planning and coordination and for developing collaborative community participation and civic leadership. In addition, NYS’s LDDS are important partners to the New York State Regional Economic Development Councils (REDCs), which are public-private partnerships composed of local experts and stakeholders from business, academia, local government, and non-governmental organizations. REDCs are charged with developing long-term, locally-driven strategic plans and regional investment priorities for each of 10 distinct regions of NYS. These councils were created in 2011 to function as the cornerstone for statewide economic development efforts. (Appalachian NYS spans four REDCs but lies predominately within two – the Southern Tier REDC and the Western New York REDC. Otsego and Schoharie counties are in 1 http://www.arc.gov/images/newsroom/publications/sp/ARCStrategicPlan2011-2016.pdf the Mohawk Valley REDC; Cortland County is in the Central New York REDC.) Each REDC’s economic development strategy is tailored to its region’s needs, opportunities and challenges. The LDDs have key oles on REDC work groups for their respective regions. Both the LDD’s CEDS and REDC’s economic development strategies are essential references for identifying higher priority projects for Area Development funding. Beyond these two references, regional and local comprehensive plans and other strategic plans are considered important documents that can elevate the ranking of proposed projects in the evaluation and selection process. To leverage their regional planning capabilities and the related economic development focus of the ARC program, each LDD annually solicits from local non-profit organizations, agencies of state or municipal government, or recognized indigenous tribal communities, regionally significant area development projects that will advance the goals and objectives of the ARC and one of NYS’s ARC Implementing Strategies. LDDs are encouraged to solicit a wide range of projects types, to provide technical assistance to potential project sponsors, and to recommend projects for consideration by DOS for ultimate approval by the ARC. LDDs also assist project sponsors whose project proposal could be fully or partially funded through NYS’s Consolidated Funding Application (CFA) program. Applications not completed in close consultation with an LDD generally are not given favorable recommendations for consideration by DOS. Construction projects must be administered by a “basic agency”. LDDs work with construction project applicants to identify a potential basic agency, such as U.S. Department of Agriculture/Rural Development (USDA/RD), which specializes on construction projects in rural areas. Other federal basic agencies include the U.S. Department of Commerce/Economic Development Administration (EDA) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). NYS’s Department of Economic Development is a Registered State Basic Agency (RSBA) for projects involving funding from Empire State Development (ESD) and may be considered as a basic agency on a case by case basis with the prior consent of the agency. In addition, the Office for Community Renewal (OCR) may be authorized to serve as a non-federal basic agency to administer ARC construction projects on a case-by-case basis. State Priorities for the 2020-2021 ARC Cycle During the upcoming program cycle, DOS will seek out projects that emphasize the following priorities: • Advance the REDC’s strategies/priorities, the LDD’s CEDS, and county or community comprehensive plans. (All 3 is best.); • Contribute measurably positive economic impact and advance economic development; • Demonstrate job creation; or, alternatively, demonstratively retain local jobs; • Train the workforce for employment in “wealth producing” careers; • Promote Smart Growth (and/or village or urban center commercial revitalization); Foster rehabilitation of local pockets of distress* *NOTE: Local pockets of distress are identified periodically by the ARC, which evaluates census tracts and counties of the Appalachian region against national averages for poverty rate, per capita market income and unemployment. Under this comparison, all Appalachian NYS counties except Allegany are categorized by ARC as economically “Transitional”, ranking in the middle 50 percentile of all counties in the nation. For 2021, Allegany Co. will be categorized as “At-Risk”, meaning that its economic condition is in the lower 25% of all U.S. counties. ARC will match up to 70% of project costs for “At-Risk” counties and up to 50% of costs for projects in “Transitional” counties. Although, several census tracts in Appalachian NYS fall into the bottom 25% of the nation’s, ARC match is determined only by the county’s economic category. More information on “pockets of distress” is available from the LDDs, DOS and the ARC. NYS’s Smart Growth Public Infrastructure Policy Act NYS enacted the Smart Growth Public Infrastructure Policy Act of 2010 (“Infrastructure Act”), Environmental Conservation Law §§6-0101 - 6-0111, to promote Smart Growth and sustainable infrastructure investments. The Act established ten Smart Growth criteria in NYS law, and infrastructure projects reviewed by NYS must meet those criteria “to the extent practicable.” State agencies and public authorities that approve or fund infrastructure projects are required to convene a Smart Growth Advisory Committee to ensure that funding and approval decisions for public infrastructure are consistent with the “relevant” Smart Growth criteria in the law. The agency’s advisory committees produce a Smart Growth Impact Statement after reviewing each project; if the project cannot practicably meet the Smart Growth Criteria, the agency must provide a written statement detailing the reasons the project fails to comply with such criteria. The ten criteria of the Infrastructure Act can be broken down into two broad categories of land use: (a) “Where”, focusing on locations that maximize and strengthen existing communities and infrastructure; (b) “How”, concerning design features and planning processes that promote livability, sustainability, housing and mobility choices, environmental protection, equity, and broad-based community participation. In summary, ten Smart Growth criteria used to review public infrastructure projects are: 1. Maintenance and use of existing infrastructure: Similar to a “fix-it-first” policy, which focuses funding on repair and maintenance of existing infrastructure, rather than constructing new infrastructure. 2. Location in “municipal centers”: Development and re-development in existing or new